I know some of you might not bother to read this disclaimer part (I don't), so just skip this & get on with the story :D

disclaimer: DGM belongs to Kat Shino. Lavi does too. *wails*.

contains: LaviXOC-ness, very mild vulgar, hot guys.

other crap not worth mentioning: Reviews are appreciated, but not necessary. It'd be mind-blowing awesomness if you just read. :D


Chapter 2wo.

Reiniko's POV

It was Calculus. And my mind was breaking from the sheer torture of it. Why was the clock ticking so slowly?

Suddenly, I felt someone tapping me. "What is it?" I hissed. A piece of paper landed on my seat. " It's from Lavi Bookman." The person behind me hissed back. Opening up the note, I read:

Come sit with us during lunch! I'll walk you. (:

I raised an eyebrow at the note. Sit… with his friends? He'll walk me? I could practically feel those emerald eyes burning a hole into my back. I scribbled down a word and sent it back.

Why?

A few seconds later the note came flying back to me again. He's fast.

Thought it would be fun.

Fun? I didn't even know these guys… I don't even know anybody. But… I didn't have anything better to do, did I?

Fine.

Throwing the note back, I stared at my Calculus book, trying to figure out where I had stopped. But lesson had already ended.


Lavi's POV

Closing my Calculus book, I stuffed it into my bag, and then bounded over to where Reiniko was sitting.

"Hey! Let's go, Kanda and Allen are probably at the canteen already." I said, grinning.

She looked up, startled. "Huh? Oh, yeah, uh… Right."

"Do your friends mind that you'll be with us?" Girls can be scary sometimes. Reiniko bit on her lower lip. "Not really. I don't sit with anyone." I looked down at her, surprised. "No friends?" She glared at me. "I just prefer being alone. I don't care if I don't have any "friends"" She muttered, making the quotation marks with her fingers. I nodded, not wanting to pursue the matter any further.

"There's Allen! Kanda's still getting his food." Slinging my arm around her shoulders, I wheeled her in the direction of the table that Allen was sitting at, stacks of plates surrounding him. Sitting down, Reiniko shrugged out of my arms with an awkward look on her face. "You have a big appetite." She pointed out to Allen. "It's pretty obvious." I laughed.

"Who's this girl?" Kanda growled, walking over with a plate of green noodles and tempura. "She's Rein-" I began, but Reiniko cut me off. "You like soba?" the table was silent for a second. "You're Japanese?" Kanda questioned, his eyes narrowed. "Uh, yeah. With some Mongolian blood." she answered, scratching her head nervously. Kanda che'd and sat down.

"Let's go get some food!" I sang, dragging Reiniko to the queue. "Watching Allen eat makes me hungry." We joined the line, and I saw a few people glancing our way, whispering among themselves. "They're talking about me. Wondering why someone like me is hanging out with you." Reiniko gave a disgusted look. "So, why am I hanging out with you guys, anyway?" She asked, looking up suspisciously at me. I laughed at her expression. "For fun! That's what I said in the note, didn't I? And it does seem boring after awhile with just Allen and Kanda." She didn't seem to believe me.

"Why me? Look at all the other good-looking sluts. Why not them." She said, glaring daggers at the group of girls who were laughing and looking at her. I was surprised to hear the word slut from her. I thought she was all quiet and goody. Now that I mention it… Allen did tell me that he once saw her fighting a gang of guys who wanted to extort money from her.

"As you said, they're all boy-crazy sluts." I pointed out, smiling down at her. "You're different. I don't think you even care about genders. Plus, you don't dress so skimpily, like them. You have your own unique style." She looked down at her "Shut up" tee, denim shorts, black tights and Converse high shoes. Well, it was unique to me.

"Spaghetti." She ordered. I realized that we were already at the front of the line.

Walking back to the table, I heard her sigh. "I wish they sold onigiri. It's a type of Japanese food. It's my favourite."

When we reached the table, Allen had already polished off his plates and was wiping his mouth daintily with a napkin. Eyeing my plate, he asked if I could give him some.

"Aww, Allen! Go line up and buy again!" I groaned, digging into my food.

"I'm lazy! And I can't take from Reiniko!" he whined.

"Why not?" Reiniko asked, raising an eyebrow.

Allen crossed his arms. "It'd be rude."

Laughing, I choked on my food.

"Nah, it's okay. I'm not really hungry. I ate a lot for breakfast." Reiniko assured him, pushing her plate towards him. Allen's eyes lighted up, and he murdered her spaghetti.

"Done!" he announced shortly after.

I saw Reiniko eyeing the empty plate-which was once hers-with regret. She was like Allen, after all. The always-hungry type.


Reiniko's POV

Maths. Calculus's best friend. Practically brothers. My head was hurting already. Someone tapped my shoulder, and a piece of paper slid down my chair. I already knew from whom it was from.

We're going to Allen's house after this, wanna come along? Don't worry, the only thing scary over there is his guardian.

Flipping my pen open, I wrote:

You guys really like me that much? Well fine, since I don't have anything better to do. Nothing scares me, Lavi. I've already seen every scary thing.

The piece of paper re-appeared after a few seconds.

Great! Beware though, his guardian a womanizer.

I let out a sigh, and stuffed the note into my pocket. Damn. I forgot which page we were on.


After school, we had to walk to Allen's house, which was only a few blocks away. He didn't own a car. Unfortunately for me, Kanda had already thought up a nickname for me. Mushroom, sister to the Moyashi. Which I figured out was Allen. Death-glaring at him, I said in Japanese, "Itake doesn't necessarily mean shiitake. And being a girl, shortness isn't a problem. So shut up." Kanda sent me an even worse death glare. "What did you say, Mushroom?" he said, in English. I just kept quiet. No use wasting my energy.

(A/N: Shiitake is a type of Japanese mushroom, and it when you pronounce Itake, it sounds like shiitake. Mushrooms are small and have a short stalk, so Kanda is implying that Reiniko's short.)

Lavi and Allen looked at each other, clearly not understanding a single word that I had said.

We followed Allen up the stairs of his house. We waited as Allen knocked on the door. "Master? You home?" he asked, a tinge of worry in his voice. Master?

The door opened, revealing a man in his early thirties. He had red flaming hair, almost identical to Lavi's. Half of his face was covered by a white mask, and he wore small, rectangular spectacles. A small golden ball with wings was perched on top of his head.

"You brought friends? Tsk. At least the girl's cute." He looked down at me. I just stared back, no hint of emotion playing on my face. I was good at that sort of thing. "Master, she's my friend. No hitting on her!" Allen whined. The man groaned, and walked back into the house.

"That's your guardian?" I asked softly as the four of us walked up the stairs. I decided not to ask about the golden ball. "Yeah, his name is Cross Marian." Allen said, a look of disgust on his face. "So why is he Master?" I asked. We were already in Allen's room. It was really neat, for a room that belonged to a boy.

"Allen's parents died, just like yours. That guy found him and took care of him. If what he's doing now is considered taking care." Lavi said. "You're parents too?" Allen asked, a sad smile playing on his lips. "And my guardian too. Diff' is that she's a female." I said, plonking myself on the ground beside Allen's bed.

"I thought you said that you lived alone?" Lavi, looking at me quizzically.

"She left me money for rent and went. She's a traveler." I replied automatically, the words rolling out of my mouth. Why was I telling them all of this? I didn't even know them that well. I mentally slapped myself.

"Oh…" Lavi said, lolling on Allen's bed. Allen shuffled under his mattress and took out a pack of poker cards. "Anyone want to play?" Allen asked, a glint of evil in his eyes.

Lavi quickly got up. "No thanks. Poker plus Allen equals pure evil. You'd see an evil side of him that you'll never ever want to see again. Especially if it's strip poker." Lavi shivered. Kanda just let out his famous che'.

"Other than poker, isn't there anything else to do?" I asked, absent-mindedly staring at the ceiling.

"Well… Uh…" Allen scratched his neck nervously. "Lavi was the one who suggested it!"

Everyone stared at Lavi. Except for Kanda. He gave him one of his famous Death glares™.

"Poker it is, then." Lavi said, grinning nervously.


It was so obvious that Allen was cheating. But whenever I pointed it out, he was too occupied in his evilness that he didn't hear me. So when I saw him cheating for the seventh time, I pulled his right sleeve up, revealing a second pack of cards underneath.

"Uwah! Ah…" Allen blushed.

"Good job, Niko! You revealed his secret!" Lavi said, taking the extra set of cards. I stared at him.

"Why Niko?" I asked. He glanced at me.

"It's short for Reiniko." He answered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Everyone who knows me and talks to me calls me Rei." I emphasized on the "talks to" part. "Well, I'm different then." He said, shrugging. I sighed. Niko. Niko. The name played around on my tongue.

"Royal Straight Flush!" Everyone stared at Allen. "But… We… How???" Lavi stammered.

"A professional cheater always keeps two extra sets." Allen smirked, revealing another set under his left arm.

"Why's your arm red?" I asked, staring at it. Allen saw me staring, and quickly pulled his sleeve down. He looked at me, shock and terror written all over his face.

"I… Uh… Didn't want you to see that." Allen mumbled, looking down at the floor.

"Okay, if it's a personal matter." I smiled. We stopped playing poker after that. Kanda went home, saying that we were "wasting his time".

So, it was just Lavi, Allen and I. I leaned against the bed, while Allen lay sprawled on his bed. Lavi had been kicked off the bed, and now he was sitting across me, leaning on Allen's small cupboard.

"What's your guardian like?" Lavi asked. "I'm sure she isn't as bad as Master. He's the worst." Allen grumbled.

"She's… Nice. She never mistreated me in any way. She's the first person I trusted. Before she came… I didn't trust anybody enough to open up to them. So I guess that's still an old habit of mine." I mumbled, drawing circles on my foot. "And she always carried this small and weird monkey on her shoulder. I think she was a circus trainer."

"Woah, that's cool." Lavi said.

"But you're opening up to us now, so does that mean you trust us?" Allen asked, rolling onto his stomach and peering down at me.

"Maybe."


Allen's words kept replaying themselves in my head, even after I had left. Why did I tell them about Klaud? About my house life?

I decided to go home, saying that my house missed me. Lavi said that he was too lazy to leave just yet, so I walked home by myself.

The streets were quiet. Birds chirped in the distance, and a cold breeze blew the leaves on the sidewalk. Suddenly, I heard footsteps behind me. Swirling around, I came face to face with the leader of a gang. I recognized him. He tried to extort money out of me once. Seeing that I had noticed him, he smirked. Evil lurked in that smirk.

"Long time no see, girl." He continued smirking.

"Where're your boys?" I looked around. We were alone.

"Not here. Wanna come with me, girl? I'll give you a cig and you can smoke with me an' my boys in the alley." I could smell his breath, now that he was closer. It reeked of cigarettes and alcohol.

"No. Don't follow me" I swallowed, trying to dislodge the lump in my throat.

"I'll force you to come." His smirk faded. Pulling out a small knife, he lunged at me. I sidestepped him, and tripped him. But he still regained his balance, and lunged at me again. I palmed the knife with both hands, like I was praying. He didn't expect that. Seizing the opportunity, I kick him hard in the groin. He let out a groan, doubling over.

I wasn't going to stop there.

I used my elbow to roughly jab him in the face, sending him reeling.

"You… Don't fight like a girl… Kid…" he managed to mumble out.

"I'll never go down against the likes of you. So leave me alone." I hissed.

"Niko!" Lavi appeared by my side. "Who's this guy? What happened?!" The man stood up slowly, clutching his face. "Damn you, girl." He walked off, turning round a corner.

"Was that one of the guys who tried to extort you for money?" I swiveled around to face him. "You saw that?" "Yeah. Oh well… It looks like I arrived too late. I would have beaten him up even more once you were done with him." I've never seen Lavi this angry before.

As we walked home, a question popped up in my mind. "If you saw, why didn't you come to my aid at that time?"

He chuckled. "You were already done when I arrived, saying something like 'Don't touch me or my money, ever.'" I blushed faintly.

"Here's your house. It's still too early for me to go home, so can I come in?" Lavi asked, giving me his puppy eyes. I sighed. "Must you?" The puppy eyes were still there. I bit my lip, and let out another sigh. "Fine. Come on in."


A/N: Ok, so this was about a thousand words longer than the first chapter. About Reiniko's outfit, that's how typical Japanese girls dress in Japan. Chapter 3 will be coming up soon! I'll try to put more Kanda in it, for the sake of Yuu fans.